1/24th diecast Corvette Stingray LZ1 to normal Stingray.

[kingpin141]

 Evenin all. A story. My sons girlfriends Dad Is a huge Corvette fan and he's just got a real 1969 Corvette Stingray. For his B/Day his daughter wants to give him a model of his car.If you ever get to read this John, Happy Birthday.
Naturally I accepted the challenge. Unfortunately I've only got a week to do it. This is the starting point I was given. 
. As you can see it's a diecast replica rather than a model. Another challenge. I've never worked with metal his big or attempted a sand down and respray in white.     As far as I can tell there's 3 major differences between the normal Stingray and the LZ1, which is what I have. The biggest single difference, and the one I don't have enough time to sort, is the bonnet. This is what I have.
. And this is what it should look like. 
The only way I can do that is to make a replacement, which I don't have the time to do. Also the vent on the side need filling and a small pseudo vent making but again not sure if i have time. And finally i need to make a luggage bar thingy for the boot lid. and paint the interior red. Today has involved 3 hours with me Dremel. This is what the car has been through so far. 









 I'm chuffed to bits with how quick and relatively painless the paint removal was. Now to smoooooooth it. Bleeding fingertips Ahoy. I really I had this for longer. There's loads of scope for improving the interior too. I'm really hoping I'll get it back at some time so I can remake the bonnet and detail inside.   

[Leon]

Going to make a great B Day present KP! Looking forward to seeing how you tackle this.

[deafpanzer]

A week?!?!? WOW! You will just do fine... just skip meals and you will make it work! Good start there!

[kingpin141]

Today I have mostly been...polishing. Hours of it. I've been trying out the polishing heads on me trusty and rapidly overheating cheap Dremel rip off. Here where i've got to. 





 I have a question. How smooth do I have to make the surface. If I give it a totally smooth one, will the primer take. 
  Here are a couple of shots of the bonnet smoothed and primered at different stages so I can see how far out I am. The second shot was taken after i'd polished it really lightly with some 1000 grade wet n dry. As you can see. The primer came straight off. Bum! 
  I think I may have a plan to give me more time but i've got to wait and see on that one. I hope so, After seeing what Pascal is doing with his Ferrari I so want to do more. His work makes me look like a right numpty. 

[kingpin141]

  Evenin all. Hours of sanding and polishing and only two pics to show for it. 


A quick blast of primer to check on the finish and it turns out i've made a much better job than I initially thought. Yay. 90% of the remaining smoothing is around the flare of the wheel arches. 
  Also I've got longer to build this too. Instead of getting the car on his birthday, John is being presented with this blog. Which means I can go and see the actual car and he can make sure all the little details on his make it into the final model. Welcome John. 

[deafpanzer]

Looking great primed... so ready to be painted!

[kingpin141]

A few nights and countless cardboard templates later and I've finally got the basic shape of the bonnet/hood right. 



 Then two pieces of plasticard glued together for the bonnet bulge then roughly shaped. 






 Then I find out the bonnet bulge has a squared off front and not a point. One quick mod later




 Then I took the whole thing with me for a very hot shower and spent half an hour gently forcing it all into shape. It sits almost perectly now and i've added hinges so it still opens and closes. Happy happy happy. Final pic is the bugle milliputted and drying in readiness for smoothing

[Leon]

Nice work on the new bonnet KP.

[kingpin141]

I've sat staring at the new bonnet and i'm not happy. This is the best pic of why. 
. 
PLus I heated the bonnet to try and get it to sit properly. This is the result. 
You can hardly see it but there's now a dent in it. Bummer
 So here is the beginnings of bonnet MK2.
 Still, I never expected to get it right first time. 

[Deleted]

<font face="comic sans ms">Hi, Please let me introduce myself. I am John, Elizabeths father and future recipient of the Corvette which you are putting so much painstaking work into. As planned, I was presented with a printed version of your blog at my birthday meal. It came as no surprise to me that Fay and Lib had put so much thought into my birthday gift, enlisting your help to create exactly what they knew I wanted rather than being satisfied with a close alternative. I am truly blessed to have such considerate children. I have been looking forward to meeting you both for some time and Lib and I have discussed possible days when this can happen. I will take this opportunity to thank you now for all your hard work so far but will be much happier when I can thank you in person. Hope to see you soon. John.</font>

[kingpin141]

Hi John, I'm seriously relieved you're happy with everything so far. Happy Birthday. Now that we're actually speaking Can I ask a big favour. Can you take Lots of pics of your car and email them to me please. I'll get my addy to you. 
  In the meantime I've been working on the bonnet. The first one sat slightly proud due to it's thickness, but any thinner and it'll be too thin and weak. So my next attempt was this.
 



 On top is a really thin piece of plasticard the exact shape of the bonnet. Underneath a thicker piece to reinforce it but cut to sit in the hole. One minor snag so far. Shower not hot enough to bend it. Then I had me brainwave. I've overcome my Scrooge attitude and ordered 5 sheets of much needed plasticard. All the others are from off cuts. With a full sheet I can use my vac former and vac form the first bonnet after iv'e filled the dent. This has the added advantage of meaning i won't have to spend forever trying to smooth the filler around the bonnet bulge. Yay... 

[johnt]

Making a model as a gift is a great idea, very personal and quite special. Best of luck mate!

Cheers
JT

[kingpin141]

Well the thin and thick plasticard experiment was a failure. couldn't get it hot enough the bend without warping or blistering it. So I had a go at vac forming. That didn't go well either. Here be the results. 



 Here are the seven bonnets i've made so far 


 And this is bonnet number eight. 


 Not perfect but getting mighty close now

[kingpin141]

Yay. I've got some pics of the car i'm copying. Unfortunately as soon as I saw the pics I noticed a snag. Here is the car itself

 And here is the back end of the one i've got


 I not sure what, if anything, that I can do about the bonnet lip spoiler as I have neither the tools or the talent to do the necessary metal work required. Bugger.

  Also this is the front end  

 And this is what I've got 


 Major butchery of the front end to follow 

[Leon]

Good luck with the surgery KP! Slow and easy and you'll get it.

[kingpin141]

I've finally been up and seen the car so i've lots of reference pics to work from now. I drove it too. To quote Mr May the sound gives you quite a  tingle. 
  Anyways, back to the plot. This is the front end

 And this is the model. 


 Notice the real thing doesn't have any chrome work or a bumper. The nose is extended. I can't extend the nose on the model ( lack of talent) so instead the compromise i've come up with is this. The chrome was removed, the bumper cut off and then I sanded it all to sit flush with the body work. 


 To end up with this.
  Then I made a larger number plate and I've started on the sticky out bumper thingies. 
 






 Not perfect but much closer than it was. Also I've had a chat with John and the lip spoiler is staying. Phew. 

[kingpin141]

Tonight I've been working on the interior. Converting it from manual to auto and fitting a stereo. This is the real thing 

 And this is where i've got to so far. 


 First up a new cover the the gearstick etc. I've scored in the ashtray etc. then penciled them so they can be seen in the pics. 
Then i made up a basic stereo. 


 And finally removing the clutch and brake pedals and replacing with one big brake

[Leon]

Awesome scratch work on the interior KP.

[kingpin141]

 Hi all. Sorry about the wait between posts, Lots has been going on at home. Anyways, Here's what little i've accomplished over a very long time. Sticking plastic to metal is a lot harder than I thought it would be. After ten attempts at getting the bonnet right I've had to revert to the original one I made. Also I may have to glue the bonnet down so it holds in the right shape. 







 As you can see two of the opposite corners sit proud and nothing I do seems to remedy it. Bugger!!
 
  And these be the side vents. On the real thing the vents are open but I can't cut metal. Far beyond my talents, and tools for that matter. 

[Leon]

Good to see this come back around KP! Your doing a fine job despite the bonnet issue.

[kingpin141]

Over the last few days I've got the door handles inside and out and the lock done. I used spare photo etch for the parts. Here is the exterior 


The handle is 1/72 seat harness and the lock is a tie down. 





 The interior handle is also seat harness
  At the front I've super glued the intake grill in and started to fill it so it sits smoothly in place. Lots of work left to do on it yet

[kingpin141]

After spending bloody ages working on the body with very little to show for it I decided to have a crack at the interior.  One evening later I've got to this stage







 Happy happy happy

[deafpanzer]

Interior looking sharp!